The Pagosa Springs SUN brought home a record number 31 awards in its class (medium-size weekly newspapers), including three major awards, following last week’s annual convention of the Colorado Press Association.

Colorado Press Association entries in a wide variety of categories are judged by peers and industry experts in journalism, information and design, and advertising. This year’s judges came from the Michigan Press Association.

SUN owner and publisher Terri House, a member of the Colorado Press Association Board of Directors, was at the event to receive the awards.

This year, judges presented The SUN with a record 12 first-place awards.

Randi Pierce took first place in Deadline News writing and Feature Photograph.

Pat Artis received first place in the Sports Photograph category.

Terri House won first place for Classified Page or Section, and she and Shari Pierce were given first place in Editorial Layout and Design.

Mike Pierce received first place in Black and White Ad, Color Ad, Website-Weekly-Content, Website-Weekly-Interactivity, Website-Weekly-Design, Website-Weekly-Advertising, and Website-Weekly-Multimedia.

The team of Terri House, Shari Pierce and Mike Pierce received second-place awards in Ad Special Section and Newspaper Promo.

Third place went to Randi Pierce, in the Sports Story and Photo Essay categories.

Jim McQuiggin took third place in Education Story.

Mike Pierce got third-place awards in Feature Photograph and Real Estate Ad. House, Shari Pierce and Mike Pierce took third place in the Ad Special Section category.

Most notable among The SUN’s awards were those in the Extraordinary Achievement section.

The SUN was named Sweepstakes winner in the Advertising category and was selected as the Sweepstakes winner in the Photo/Design category. The Sweepstakes award in each category is given to the newspaper deemed best in its class.

Finally, The Pagosa Springs SUN was named the General Excellence winner for medium-size weekly newspapers in Colorado. This award is determined on the basis of total points given for awards in all categories (except Website categories). The newspaper with the highest number of award points is presented with the General Excellence award.

“We are appreciative of the readers and advertisers who support The SUN and make it possible for us to cover the news in our community,” said House.